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Stray bullet hits school bus in Minneapolis

Minneapolis police say they're still looking for the two men who shot at each other yesterday and hit a school bus.

The bullet didn't hit anyone on the bus but it came extremely close. Officials say they're lucky the incident ended up as nothing more than a very close call.

The bus was heading from Kenwood Elementary School to an after-school program at about 2:30 p.m. Monday when it came to a red light at the corner of 28th Street and Stevens Avenue. That intersection is just a few blocks south of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in the Whittier neighborhood.

Police say two men near that corner then started shooting. Each had a weapon and police say multiple shots were fired, though it's not clear whether the shots came from both weapons.

Police say they don't think the bus was the target, but one bullet went through the glass of the bus's front door and into a jacket owned by the bus driver. Police Sgt. William Palmer said somehow the driver was not struck.

"It actually lodged between her back and the seat she was sitting in, so I don't think you can get any closer without getting hit," Palmer said.

In fact, it was so close Palmer said the woman initially thought she had been shot when she called 911. Police have not yet identified the bus driver.

The only injury was a minor scratch that a 9-year old boy sustained from shattering glass. The other two 8-year-old children on the bus weren't hurt.

Minneapolis Schools spokesman Stan Alleyne said the bus just happened to be in that spot when the shooting started.

"We were very lucky, we were very fortunate," he said.

But Alleyne and police praised the bus driver's reaction.

"Instead of stopping, she kept moving -- which got the bus into a safe place," he said.

Minneapolis police have called it a random shooting, and because of that, school district officials say they don't plan to boost security. A recorded phone message was sent to the families of all students at Kenwood, the school the three children attend.

"While this incident was not related in any way to our school, I wanted to reassure you that maintaining a safe environment for our students was a top priority," Kenwood Principal Cheryl Martin said in the message.

While the incident left everyone sighing in relief, police did also say they're troubled by the fact that the shooting happened in broad daylight on a corner that's usually fairly crowded at that time of day, as it was yesterday.

Another bullet from the gunfight went through the window of a nearby house. It also didn't strike anyone.